Environmental/OSHA Compliance, Enforcement & Litigation
Air Permitting & Compliance
Seyfarth Shaw’s experienced attorneys have the background and in-depth knowledge to help clients address air-quality concerns from an uncountable variety of industry sources: light, medium and heavy manufacturing; refrigeration; transportation; construction and demolition; landfill emissions; energy production and use; aggregate mining and refining; and hundred of other industries.
Through our longstanding representation of the iron and steel, chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, aggregate, explosives, and other heavy manufacturing, Seyfarth Shaw attorneys have a thorough knowledge of the complexities of the Clean Air Act including the NSPS, NESHAPs, Title V Permitting, new source review, PSD, BACT/LAER, and Risk Management and Process Safety Management. We help clients obtain air permits and variances, challenge regulations adopted by federal, state and local air-pollution control authorities, and save and bank emissions. We defend all manner of air-quality enforcement matters.
OSHA/MSHA Compliance & Enforcement
Our OSHA attorneys have unequalled experience in the requirements of OSHA, as well as the related legal obligations under state civil and criminal law and workers’ compensation.
We counsel clients on workplace violence prevention programs under the Occupational Safety and Health Act in order to maintain a workplace which is free of the “recognized hazard” of workplace violence. We conduct training for clients on how to respond to potential workplace violence incidents, and assist clients in responding to actual on-site incidents as the event occurs, interfacing with law enforcement entities, such as the FBI, as well as mental health care providers and any other relevant parties. We work with clients to address workplace hazards by developing an in-house team composed of individuals from human resources, safety and health, and security, as well as legal and mental health care providers, when appropriate.
Our team has particular experience in hundreds of OSHA and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) investigations, ergonomic hazards, process safety management, record-keeping requirements, union and employee complaints and general inspection protocols. We have substantial experience in workplace fatalities and the associated OSHA, community and workplace issues. We are able to draw upon the strength of our national labor and employment practice in order to provide comprehensive services that address these myriad issues.
MSHA Compliance & Enforcement
Even well-intentioned, safety-conscious mine operators can find it difficult to maintain compliance with the many and ever-changing Mine Safety & Health Administration (“MSHA”) regulations. The Mine Safety & Health Act requires MSHA to make frequent inspections of all mines, with surface mines inspected twice a year and underground mines inspected four times a year. As a result of these frequent inspections, mine operators are often confronted with MSHA citations and, on occasion, withdrawal orders shutting down all or part of a mine.
Our attorneys routinely assist clients in developing and implementing MSHA compliance programs, management and employee training, accident investigations and audit programs. We represent companies during MSHA inspections and defense of citations, including litigation and settlement. We have considerable background in managing and counseling clients concerning fatality, multiple hospitalizations, and other high-profile, high-risk incidents and inspections.
Environmental Litigation
Seyfarth Shaw’s Environmental, Safety & Toxic Tort Litigators
From offices throughout the United States, have significant courtroom experience at all levels of federal and state jurisdiction, and are well-prepared to organize and mount effective client defenses to environmental and safety related claims by the government or third parties.
Working closely with in-house counsel, industry experts, and attorneys throughout the firm, we conduct a full analysis of the claims, our client’s unique environment and business objectives, potential effects of the action, and costs associated with defending the action. We then develop and implement a resolution strategy, which may include the creation of client/attorney teams and communication structures that keep all parties well informed and working toward the same goals. Knowing that large-scale defenses can be quite costly, we maximize the use of client resources using our attorneys and paralegals in ways that make the most efficient use of their skills.
Our experience extends to alternative forms of dispute resolution, including arbitrations and pre-trial settlements. When litigation is the only alternative, clients know they can rely on our litigation expertise to help them achieve their objectives.
Process Water, Stormwater and Groundwater Permitting, Cleanup and Enforcement
Our attorneys help clients manage the many requirements under state and federal Clean Water Act (“CWA”),regulations, including taking proactive steps to ensure compliance and defend against citations and other regulatory action. We negotiate conditions for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits for process waters and stormwater and defend CWA enforcement actions. We also represent clients with regard to other legislation, such as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Safe Water Drinking Act.
RCRA, Superfund and TSCA/PCBs
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA”) or “Superfund” uses the dual threats of treble damages and escalating liability to force companies that contributed to historic pollution sites to pay clean-up costs, regardless of fault. Seyfarth Shaw’s experienced environmental attorneys help clients with every aspect of CERCLA compliance and cost recovery, with a focus on efficient representation and reducing the often severe impacts of this statute's liability scheme.
Our attorneys lead potentially responsible party committees, defend generators against competing claims, negotiate voluntary clean-ups with EPA, prosecute and defend private party claims, work on record of decision amendments, and help arrange settlements with private parties in cost-recovery actions. We also prosecute claims against insurance companies for cost reimbursement and negotiate defense cost-sharing arrangements.
We have been successful in challenging and completing multi-million dollar cost recovery actions.
Spills, Release Reporting & Right to Know
Decisions as to the reporting of spills, releases or other emergencies to federal, state and local agencies are among the most difficult choices faced by manufacturing facilities. Seyfarth Shaw’s Environmental, Safety & Toxic Tort practice has the experience, know-how and understanding of federal, state and local rules to provide prompt advice, assistance and guidance in responding to and reporting, all manner of emergencies, including those relating to explosives and explosives manufacturing, those involving significant injuries and fatalities.
We appreciate the implications of reporting, as well as the consequences of failing to report and late reporting. We are responsive, capable partners to our clients in assessing reporting and response obligations in the event of spills or releases, and in handling employees and the media in safety disasters.
Our attorneys assist clients in preventing emergencies through development of preparedness and prevention plans such as Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Plans, contingency plans, risk management plans, process safety management plans and "one plans" which allow clients to take preventive, rather than responsive, approaches to environmental and safety emergencies.
We have extensive experience in Emergency Planning & Community Right to Know Act (“EPCRA”) and OSHA Hazard Communication (“HazCom”) compliance, and have represented numerous clients in enforcement cases regarding reporting under those rules. Our EPCRA and OSHA HazCom experience allows us to understand and appreciate the interrelation between EPCRA and HazCom and their effect on facility reporting obligations and recordkeeping.
The firm has represented clients in all areas of EPCRA compliance, including reporting under Sections 311, 312 and 313 of EPCRA and CERCLA Section 304 Emergency Release Reporting, and have represented companies in high-profile Voluntary Disclosure cases with respect to EPCRA reporting. Given its prevalence in OSHA citations, we likewise address HazCom issues on an ongoing basis.
Voluntary Disclosures/Audits
Seyfarth Shaw routinely assists clients in the conduct, interpretation, review, and resolution of environmental audits, whether conducted internally by clients, or by third-party engineers or consultants. Our assistance includes advice on protecting audit privileges and tailoring audits to fit the particular needs of client inquiry, as well as challenging audit results by third-party consultants and resolving issues which may be raised during the course of an audit.
We have unique experience in the voluntary disclosure of audit results to the EPA under the Self-Disclosure and Audit Policy. Our attorneys counsel and represent clients in all levels of such disclosures, from the initial contact with the Agency to the negotiation and execution of Consent Decrees under the Audit Policy. We also assist clients in developing their own internal environmental and OSHA compliance audits, as well as audits which may be appropriate for due diligence in business transactions.
Environmental & Engineering Professionals
Combining wide-ranging experience in environmental law, contracts, and litigation, Seyfarth Shaw attorneys frequently represent environmental and engineering professionals against breach of contract and professional negligence claims. Our familiarity with issues such as the American Society for Testing and Materials guidelines, the professional standard of care, warranty and indemnity provisions, the economic loss doctrine, and environmental clean-up standards enables us to take a broad perspective in defending these claims and to tailor the defense to particular factual and legal circumstances. The firm’s frequent use of environmental and engineering professionals in representing our own clients gives us further insight into the business context in which these claims arise. We have defended consultants against a wide assortment of claims including faulty Phase I and Phase II assessments, removal of underground storage tanks, mold assessments, geotechnical studies and design work. We have also found that alternate dispute resolution vehicles are particularly appropriate for these types of claims and have had a great deal of success using them to resolve the claims before trial.